Very few expected Gabriel Gonzaga to defeat the kick boxing expert, Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic during UFC 70. Absolutely nobody expected Gonzaga to take out Cro Cop with a knockout kick to the side of the Croatian’s head. Now that the impressions of UFC 70 are long gone, Gonzaga still has to prove it was more than just a lucky kick that gave him an impressive upset victory in Manchester, England less than four months ago.
This is where Randy Couture comes in.
Coming off an impressive five round decision over then-heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia during UFC 68, Couture proved that he may be a bit older than most MMA fighters, but he still had the heart to capture his 5th overall UFC championship title at 44 years of age. Can Gonzaga, nick-named Napao (or Big Nose in English), take this belt away from “The Natural” for the 5th time? I surely don’t see it happening during UFC 74.
While nothing can be taken away from Gonzaga considering he emerged victorious during his recent bout with a top 10 fight, he has yet to prove he is consistent as a big name heavyweight. Before he took on the 22-5 Filipovic, his previous 8 opponents are combined into a shabby 33-24-1 record; not exactly top 10 material. He lone loss was against Fabricio Werdum, a 9-3 fighter who has impressive wins over Alistair Overeem and Aleksander Emelianenko. So what does this say about the big Brazilian? The 28 year old Brazilian certainly has a chance to take him the prestigious heavyweight belt in a couple weeks, but Couture, who has no problem going up against big guys, certainly won’t go down easy. I see Couture taking down a cardio-deficient Gonzaga during Round 3.
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